What would happen if the number of available jobs in the construction industry—not just the building trades but also engineering and architecture—far exceeded the number of hands available to take up the work? In the next five years, the industry likely will find out, and the experience could be painful. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by 2012 there will be 1 million job openings throughout the construction industry.
The industry already has been experiencing skilled labor shortages as the aging Baby Boomer workforce retires. For every five individuals that leave the construction industry, only one new person enters the field. But the problem also is due to younger generations’ preference for jobs in technology and business. Getting students interested in the building industry and on the path to careers in construction is critical.
The Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program is hoping its efforts will offset some of these predictions. The organization, which was founded by concerned principals at design and construction firms in 1995, operated on a regional level in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for several years. In 2002, it decided to take its mentoring program national, and recently it ramped up its national efforts in an attempt to reach more high school students and introduce them to the opportunities the construction industry offers.
“There’s a huge demand for skilled laborers and professionals to find out about the job opportunities that are available in the construction industry,” notes Pamela Mullender, ACE’s executive director. “Over the next five years, we’d like to have 100,000 students in the program.”
To date, ACE’s mentors have worked with 30,500 high schoolers. As part of its stepped-up goals, the organization will focus on drawing more industry firms into the program as mentors and sponsors for their local areas, as well as on attracting more students to the program. National advertising, a new Web site (www.acementor.org), posters, and brochures are also part of the new campaign.
The mentoring program pairs a team of engineers, architects, contractors, landscapers, and other construction professionals with a group of high school students to meet 15 times throughout the school year after classes. The pros introduce the students to the work required on a building project and how each member contributes. Incorporating field trips to jobsites and mentors’ offices, the students take their own building projects from design through engineering and estimating to model building and bidding. Students get a hands-on experience of what it’s like to work in the field and work as part of a team. Mentors also serve as career advisors.
“Our statistics show us that 92 percent of the kids who have gone through the program have gone on to college and pursued a career in the construction industry,” Mullender says. ACE is currently developing a system to track students who have gone through the mentoring program and have continued through college in a construction-related program of study to enter the industry after graduation.
The ACE Mentor Program is supported by a coalition of industry players, including Turner Construction, EMCOR Group, PSI, Gilbane Building Co., and McGraw Hill Construction.
